Apparently bad news re: Bruce Willis

[PCIntern]

Last edited Wed Mar 30, 2022, 04:58 PM - Edit history (1)

According to CNN he is taking a break from acting and one of his symptoms apparently is that he has aphasia. This is both sad and very frightening.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/30/entertainment/bruce-willis-aphasia/index.html


https://www.inquirer.com/health/aphasia-bruce-willis-brain-disorder-causes-20220330.html

[milestogo]

1. thats rough

Do people ever recover from it?

[PCIntern]

3. If it's a brain tumor

depends….

If stroke, also depends but my guess is that it’s a tumor -a gut feeling. I have a lot of clinical experience with these issues surrounding brain damage. Not great.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

27. Question

Do you have any experience with dementia pugilistica, post concussion syndrome, and CTE?

Thank you

[PCIntern]

32. Yes I do...

As a dentist here in the great city of Philadelphia, I have treated a fair number of retired boxers. I treat one young gentleman who was tuned up in a preliminary bout for the Olympics, with head protection at all, who will never be the same. This incident occurred 20+ years ago and he is slowly deteriorating.

The syndromes associated with the retired career boxers are extremely upsetting and as far as I can see, irreversible.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

35. Yes

Yes, I know. I am living it. It has taken a turn for the worse for me now. Goofy stuff that make some people look strangely at me. But I am trying to deal with it the best I can (former boxer, wrestler, martial artist).

[PCIntern]

40. I'm so very sorry...

Since I treat a fair number of patients with this condition, I’ve developed a little spiel for it. Obviously, people are uncomfortable broaching the subject with me, so I say to them that I understand that they have a problem and sometimes it might be difficult to express exactly what their needs or issues are. I tell them to take their time, and I will help them in any way I can, that I am not running any races and that I have plenty of time and no worries, that it’s absolutely not an issue. Almost unanimously, they are most thankful for this reassurance because people do not seem to understand that it’s an expressive disorder, it’s not a cognitive disorder in and of itself.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

43. Thanks very much

It's great that you can handle that situation. Right now with me I get words mixed up, don't remember familiar names, and have limited short term recall. Plus I have some physical things like I can't eat soup normally because my hand will shake with the spoon in it and things along those lines. Sometimes it gets where i am totally confused and lost. It's high anxiety for sure.

[calimary]

50. Oh man, sorry to hear that!

Earned a black belt years ago but wasn’t very good at the sparring part. Never dated go without a helmet, though!

My sympathies to you, my friend.

Sometimes I think DU helps keep the brain exercised at least to some extent, so I hope you’re able to stick around and take advantage.

If you can’t beat it, maybe you can slow it down?

[BeerBarrelPolka]

51. Thank you

I appreciate it. I do mental exercises and they do seem to help. I also do everything the same as much as I can. But I also take care of my mom who has Alzheimer's and that has accelerated my decline as it's high stress. I just have to slow things down sometimes to think clearly.

[WinstonSmith4740]

37. I remember going through this after my late husband's stroke.

Not a good time. Especially when you consider his profession had been management and training, and he made his living speaking. What I always found fascinating is that he could describe stuff..."the box in the kitchen that cooks food", but couldn't come up with "oven". Or when the speech therapist showed him a picture of a door, and he said "opening". The therapist just laughed and said, "Well, I can't say he's wrong!"

[Liberal In Texas]

2. That helps to explain the last 10 or so crap movies he's made.

But seriously. That's terrible. I'm sorry to hear it and I wish him luck in treatments.

[greenjar_01]

5. Oooof

[underpants]

10. He was in 8 movies last year...and 8 this year

https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch?role=nm0000246&job_type=actor

[Liberal In Texas]

13. We won't even consider watching a movie we see on Netflix anymore if he's in it.

It's sad, but the ones we've did sit through in the recent past were all B or C grade one star movies.

Sometimes the producers put him in the movie for about 2 minutes just to trade on his name.

[DENVERPOPS]

36. Far better

than anti-Semitic Mel Gibson or other hyper racist actors. Sinese? is another one........

[LexVegas]

16. There have been rumors that he has been cashing in before he is physically unable to anymore.

Its sad.

[LiberatedUSA]

65. That makes a lot of sense.

It explains why he has been following the path of Steven Seagal with the non-stop movie crapfest. He knew his income days were limited.

But he must have a lot of money. A portfolio worth many millions of dollars must generate a lot of dividends; if he is doing such a thing.

[Traildogbob]

25. Tell it

I really like he, he has done some great action movies, but damn, I actually paid for a Blu-ray of Apex, thinking he would carry it. Not much out on disc last two years, just thought it would be fun. But that has to be the worst action movie ever made. I was I’m stressed for him. He hid behind trees a lot. Not even good enough to watch to block out MSM for an hour and a half. I wish him the best. It hope he takes better offers ahead.

[NotHardly]

39. You need not tell us you a Liberal Texas style, your cruelty shows in your posting

Never knew anyone with a debilitating illness before, is that right?

[Liberal In Texas]

41. Whatever.

[USALiberal]

55. What a mean to say, self delete it.

[Emile]

4. Wow that's brain damage!

[AngryOldDem]

6. Damn.

[VGNonly]

7. Terry Jones

of Monty Python fame died from aphasia in 2020.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. How many times did he take a blow to the head in

“Die Hard” movies? Like concussions in the NFL.

[robbob]

24. I would suspect a lot fewer then you would imagine.

Because, you know, it’s a movie…😁

[gldstwmn]

56. Not if he did his own stunts. Tom Cruise does most if not all of his stunts.

[puddy3480]

9. My dad died from this in 2016

He was only 66 years old. There is no cure, and no set timeline on how long he will live or be able to live a comfortable life.

[brush]

15. What are the effects of it? I read the ability to speak goes...

any others?

[PCIntern]

17. One doesn't die from aphasia

It’s a symptom of a condition or disease

[uponit7771]

19. +1,

[Torchlight]

20. Impaired ability to understand speech also.

Sometimes loss of ability to read and/or write.

Those were the symptoms I remember from when a college prof of mine told us she had been recently diagnosed with it but would continue to teach as long as she could.

Four months later, she retired and in the last month she taught, we could observe these signs in her at that time she'd previously told us about. A specific memory is watching her stand at the giant chalk board writing something and then just freezing up, looking at us in confusion and then, as soon as it had showed up, she seemed right as rain again.

She passed four years later, but from cancer.

[puddy3480]

21. It is a progressive disease

He begin with trouble with words, and then memory. Over time it affected his ability to move or walk, and even eat and his body broke down. Needed help with all day to day activities and was in hospice for the last 2 weeks of his life.

[PCIntern]

23. I assume it was a brain tumor or some other

Brain-involved pathology. The only way you could die from aphasia is if you were in a life-threatening situation and could not express yourself clearly that you were in danger.

[FakeNoose]

11. Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear this

(link) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphasia

Is this what happened to Robin Williams?

[CottonBear]

14. No. Williams had Lewy Body Dementia. NT

[tavernier]

12. I had a long term home health patient with aphasia

due to brain hemorrhage. I could decipher a good deal of what she was saying, even though it was garbled, but she couldn’t understand any of our words/speech. I found that we communicated best with a sort of sign language.

Very hard on family and loved ones.

[uponit7771]

18. Damn, I have aphasia from a brain injury ... it can be deblitating

[highplainsdem]

57. I'm so sorry to hear that.

[uponit7771]

63. thx, much like Biden its hiden but it'll come out with heightened excitement and complex words or ..

... ideas I have to string together.

I can see it in Biden and thank God for his life because he looks GOOD at 76.

[SpankMe]

22. I didn't know what aphasia is. Looked it up

Horrifying. Lewy Body, Alzheimer's, aphasia...these diseases of the brain are truly sad and terrifying. I suppose we don't know the causes. But we must take better care of ourselves.

[shenmue]

26. I loved him on "Moonlighting"

Good health to him.

[CurtEastPoint]

30. i LOVED that show!

[blueinredohio]

45. I did too!

Loved his singing!

[Boomerproud]

52. Best show of the 80s. So creative and sharp.

I wish him the best.🙏

[Initech]

54. Fifth Element is one of my favorite movies!

[Martin68]

61. I own a DVD copy of 5th Element because I never get tired of it. Brilliant on so many levels, and

funny too. It's the Philip K. Dick novel that Dick never wrote.

[Initech]

64. Such a great flick. I need to watch it again, it's been a while.

[Martin68]

28. Yes, many of his movies are just a job to put retirement money in the bank, but the man can

actually act. I wish some of the people above would dispense with the cheap shots at someone suffering from brain damage.

[PCIntern]

33. I agree....

This is not the time to become a hurtful film critic.

[DENVERPOPS]

38. Agree

I try to refrain from trashing the most psychologically damaged person on earth.......Trump. Along with DeSantis and Abbot. NOT...

[MustLoveBeagles]

46. +1

This is sad news. It's below the belt to mock him just because he made some bad movies and has political views we don't disagree with. I've never been a fan of kicking people when they're down. My heart goes out to him and his family and friends. My husband is a big fan of his. This news will upset him a lot.

[Siwsan]

29. My uncle suffered from aphasia

He later developed Alzheimer's. He had a very rough time. It was heartbreaking.

[Greybnk48]

53. Sad to hear this. I wish Bruce and his family well.

He's one of the few Republicans I've been able to continue liking. Damn!

[MLAA]

31. I'm very sorry to hear this.

[DET]

34. Wishing him the best

My brother has primary progressive aphasia (PPA) after two strokes caused by an AVM (arteriovenous malformation - a congenital malformation of the blood vessels) bleed in the cerebellum. He then developed early onset Alzheimer’s. He can’t speak coherently at all anymore. It’s very hard on the family.

[Scottie Mom]

42. Very sad. I wish him the best. EOM

[CaptainTruth]

44. I had aphasia from a food allergy, for a couple years.

I kept eating a food I didn't know I was allergic to & it caused full on episodes of aphasia. People could look at me & talk, I would see their lips moving & hear they were making sounds but it was all gobblygook, just random nonsense, I couldn't understand a word. If I tried to talk all I could do was make sounds, I couldn't form words. It usually lasted 20-30 minutes & it was scary as hell because I was fully aware of what was happening.

Long story short, after 3 different doctors over 2 years who couldn't find anything wrong, I finally got a doctor who said I might have a food allergy & referred me to an allergy specialist. Sure enough, we discovered I'm allergic to soybeans, specifically the soy protein molecule. I eliminated soy (including soybean oil) from my diet & no more aphasia. Also, a general persistent "mental fog" that I'd been suffering from disappeared & I once again had mental clarity. I had gotten so bad I was convinced I was going to die, I remember sending Christmas cards one year & thinking to myself "This is the last time I'll do this" because I literally could not imagine myself being alive at next Christmas.

All because of a freaking undiagnosed food allergy. And for a glimpse into my life, read the labels on the things you buy at the grocery store. Bread? 90% has soy. Salad dressing? 95% has soy. Margarine? 98% has soy. Soybean oil is everywhere. The only good thing I've discovered is that soy lecithin (used in a lot of chocolate) contains only trace amounts of the protein so I can still enjoy a chocolate treat from time to time.

I'm sure Bruce will have doctors who will check out things like allergies, so I will wish him the best of luck & hope it's not too serious.

[Ms. Toad]

47. I don't know if he had COVID, but one of the diseases which causes aphasis is COVID.

My employee is struggling with this symptom, and is participating in a research study to evaluate that, and other, long-term consequences. She was vaccinated and boosted, and had a "mild" case of COVID.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

48. My wife and I watched "Hudson Hawk" the other night

The movie is not great, but the takeaway should have been to put Willis and Danny Aiello is about 10 buddy pictures together, because they had great on-screen rapport.

I disagree with Willis on politics, but I don't wish this on him and I hope the folks at Mayo can find a way through this for him.

[marie999]

49. I have expressive aphasia. Mine is caused by minor strokes. I have 5 or 6 a year for 5 years.

That's 5 or 6 six waves of them over a month or so. Expressive aphasia is when you can understand other people but you can't express your thoughts. Mine only lasts about 5 hours. I carry a note from my doctor so if it happens when I am shopping it tells someone to call 911 and tell them I am having a minor stroke and let the hospital know who I am because they have all my records. I used to drive myself to the hospital, but my VA primary care said no because I wouldn't know what else might happen. I only go to the hospital because they have to scan my brain to see if I am bleeding, likely not so far. I hope his aphasia isn't any worse than mine. Aphasia will not kill you, but the reason you have aphasia might.

[PCIntern]

60. Thank you for discussing your case..

It will enlighten many who read it. You take good care now, and stay well!!!

[canetoad]

58. I looked up how old he is

B. 19 March, 1955. That's six months to the day younger than I am and a lot younger than many DUers. Very sad.

[marie999]

62. The aphasia can affect his acting since it usually affects speech.

But the real problem is what is causing it. It could be from very mild strokes all the way to brain cancer. Let's hope it's very mild strokes.

[Torchlight]

59. Between Moonlighting and his role in Sin City

and Die Hard, I've really enjoyed his performances.

Really a drag to see people I watched as a young guy taking on these health concerns (could be just selfishness on my part though-- it reminds me I'm just not a young guy either).